Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

ECONOMIC SECTION

43

eral. This is the procedure now followed under the auspices
of the present Governor-General."
Notwithstanding all the efforts exerted by Governors-General and by the Filipino leaders in attempting to establish a
democratic system of financial administration, it is evident that
the present organization and procedure still have substantial
shortcomings. The responsibility and authority in the preparation, approval, execution, and control of the appropriations
are not allocated sufficiently to enable the plan to work with
the proper degree of efficacy.
While the Governor-General is responsible to the President
and the Government of the United States, the Filipino leaders
and the Legislature, in turn, feel that they are responsible to
the people but have not all the necessary authority to face that
responsibility. The arrangements made under these circumstances for the intervention of the Filipino leaders in the preparation and approval of the budget by the Executive are not
complete, so as to establish an absolute control of the purse by
the people and are too fragile a mechanism to be stable and
withstand any serious conflict.
These and other considerations, which I do not mention for
the sake of brevity, show that the existing system of government in the Philippines is no longer adapted to the conditions
of the country. It may occasion the failure of the efforts of
a chief executive, however hard he may strive to succeed, not
because he lacks capacity or other qualifications, but because
of the presence of elements which can not be always harmonized; that is, he is working under an organic law which is not
in consonance with American democratic ideas or in agreement
with the aspirations for freedom of the Filipino people.
Public opinion, regardless of class and political or religious
creed, has unanimously pronounced itself as favoring a change
in the existing state of affairs which will'put an end to the
present uncertainty and anomalies, and I sincerely believe that
no reform will be satisfactory to the Filipino people or apt to
provide a permanent remedy for the present situation other
than the independence of our country. Any other measure will
merely be a more or less transitory palliative, and the people